Buckeye, Arizona is a city that many people are choosing to move to because of its proximity to Pheonix, Arizona, and a multitude of other reasons. However, what are some of the reasons why you should reconsider doing so? To help you know exactly what you will have to deal with while living in Buckeye, Arizona, we have listed 17 reasons you shouldn’t move there below.
1. Bobcats and Other Wildlife
If you don’t want to potentially encounter bobcats
and other wildlife such as mule deer, desert tortoises, and big horn sheep, you don’t want to move to Buckeye, Arizona. You are especially at risk of encountering bobcats when you live on the outskirts of town in more rural areas. Keep in mind that there are plenty of rural areas in Buckeye for you to live in, so it may be relatively hard for you to find a reasonably priced home in an area where you won’t likely encounter these dangerous animals.
2. Scorpions and Other Pests
While living in Buckeye, the wild animals in the area will not be the only pests and wildlife that you will have to be wary of. You will also have to be wary of scorpions and other pests, as it is likely that you will encounter them regularly.
While scorpions are more active in July and August in most of Arizona, they are active year-round in Buckeye. They also tend to hide in gardens and homes during the winter or when temperatures start to drop. If you move to Buckeye, you will have to be extremely cautious when you are indoors and outdoors, as you don’t want to get stung by a scorpion, especially because some scorpions in Buckeye are venomous. If you move to Buckeye, shake out your shoes before putting them on, and be wary of corners in your garage, as a scorpion may be hiding there.
The following creatures are also common in Buckeye, Arizona.
- Black widows
- Cockroaches
- Ants
- Giant lizards
- Tarantulas
- Bedbugs
- Bees
- Wasps
- Hornets
- Various spiders
3. The City is Growing Extremely Quickly
The city of Buckeye, Arizona is one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States. This means that this city is growing extremely quickly. As someone who has lived in a fast-growing town for most of my life, I know that if you move to Buckeye, you will have trouble recognizing it a few years later, even if you keep up with what is being built.
If you want to live in a small city long-term you don’t want to move to Buckeye, as it will not remain a small town for very long.
4. Traffic
The traffic in and around Buckeye is awful. However, when you compare it to the traffic in big cities, you won’t think that it’s that bad. What makes traffic become congested in the city of Buckeye is the fact that there are very few stoplights. Almost every intersection has 4-way or 2-way stops instead of stop lights, even if they are needed. This causes traffic to become congested, even when the road technically isn’t that busy.
The freeway near Buckeye is where traffic really gets bad, which means that if you don’t plan on working in Buckeye, you will have to deal with bumper-to-bumper traffic on the freeway on an almost daily basis. The freeway near Buckeye gets extremely congested because traffic from Pheonix, Arizona uses this freeway. Plus, it only has 1 lane, and many trucks use this particular freeway to transport items to places in Arizona and Texas because there aren’t any other options.
5. Air Pollution
If you like breathing clean air, you shouldn’t move to Buckeye, Arizona. Buckeye actually is the 3rd most polluted city in Arizona, just after Tortolita and Scottsdale. It has an AQI of 41, which is considered good, but if it gets any higher and reaches 51, the AQI will be considered unhealthy. The air quality regularly goes down during the summer because of various reasons.
6. Crime
While Buckeye, Arizona is not the most dangerous of places in the United States, it’s not exactly safe either. It has a crime index of 42 out of 100. A city that has a crime index of 100 is considered the safest city in the United States, and Buckeye isn’t even one of the top 50 safest cities in this country.
Buckeye has a violent crime rate of 1.58 per 1,000 residents. It also has a property crime rate of 12.94 per 1,000 residents.
ADD MORE ABOUT SAFETY HERE
7. Farmland and Dirt
Buckeye, Arizona is full of farmland and dirt. Other than the rock formations that periodically pop up, it is relatively flat as well. If you enjoy looking out your car window to enjoy the beauty of trees, you will be severely disappointed if you move to Buckeye. All you will see when you look out your car window will be rocks, dirt, and crops until you get into the part of Buckeye that has a lot of stores and restaurants.
8. Dust Storms
Buckeye, Arizona regularly has large dust storms that are called “haboobs” by locals. These dust storms involve a large wall of dust. If you encounter one of these dust storms, hope that you will be able to find shelter quickly, or else you will be finding dust in your clothing weeks later and will definitely get a lot of dust in your eyes and nose.
9. Drought
Arizona has been in a drought for the last 27 years, and it is not expected to end anytime soon. This means that if you move to Buckeye, you will constantly have to look at what level of drought the city is in to determine what limitations on your water usage are in place.
If you enjoy gardening or having luscious plants that need a lot of water to thrive, you don’t want to move to Buckeye, as you will be forced to have plants that don’t need a lot of water. Most lawns in Arizona are filled with rocks rather than grass because you don’t need to water rocks to make them look good.
If Buckeye keeps growing at the current rate, the city will need about 100,000 acre-feet of water per year to sustain the population. The city doesn’t currently have that amount of water, which means that the drought and water shortage will get worse rather than better over time.
10. Bad-Tasting Water
If you enjoy drinking great-tasting tap water, you do not want to move to Buckeye, Arizona, as the tap water tastes awful and you will definitely need to purchase a water filter. The water in Buckeye doesn’t taste good because of the amount of gravel, sand, and salt deposits that it passes through on its way to your kitchen sink. The city also has an issue with hard water.
The water in Buckeye also has nitrates, fluoride, and arsenic in it, though all of the levels are low enough for the water to be declared safe to drink by the EPA.
11. Lack of Cold Water
If you enjoy drinking a nice, cold glass of ice water, you will be miserable if you live in Buckeye, Arizona during the summer. Locals have found that even when they turn their kitchen sink to dispense cold water, it is hot. You will definitely need to have a good ice maker in your freezer or purchase a lot of ice trays if you want to drink cold water while living in Buckeye during the summer.
12. Natural Disasters
Like any city, Buckeye is prone to natural disasters such as wildfires, storms, flooding, and monsoons. That’s not even including the dust storms that regularly occur because of how windy it gets and how much dry, loose dirt and dust is on the ground.
In the end, if you move to this city, you will have to invest in really good flooding insurance and fire insurance. You will also have to watch for large dust storms and seek shelter when you notice that one is coming your way, as you don’t want to breathe in all that dust for a long period of time.
13. Climate
If you enjoy watching the snow fall every year during the winter or enjoy being wrapped in a blanket while sitting in front of a roaring fire with a cup of hot chocolate or tea in your hand, you don’t want to move to Buckeye, Arizona. It almost never snows in Buckeye, and even during the middle of winter, it rarely gets below 30 degrees Fahrenheit.
If you hate the heat, you will hate living in Buckeye, as during the summer, it regularly reaches temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. It even gets to 112 degrees Fahrenheit, which means that if you don’t have a really good air conditioner, you will suffer regularly during the summer while living in Buckeye.
14. Constant Construction
If you hate seeing construction signs and the orange cones that make people nervous while driving, you won’t like living in Buckeye, as there are constant construction projects in progress, even during the winter. After all, construction companies don’t have to worry about things freezing or trying to build things in the snow, so why shouldn’t they build year-round?
One of the reasons why there is constant construction is that the city is growing rapidly. New houses and buildings for businesses to fill are constantly being built, and the number of construction projects that are in progress is not expected to go down anytime soon. This means that you will constantly have to make detours because of closed streets and hear construction noise until everyone goes home for the day.
15. Relatively High Median Home Cost
The cost of houses in Buckeye, Arizona is relatively high, especially when you consider how rural the city actually is. The median cost of a house in Buckeye is about $416,954, and it is expected to increase even more in the next few years.
The average cost of houses in Buckeye has risen nearly 10% in only 1 year. This is good for people looking to sell their homes in the next few years, but it is not so good for people who are looking to purchase houses in the area within the same amount of time.
16. High Cost of Rent
If you are planning on renting an apartment or home in Buckeye while you wait for the cost of houses to go down, you are out of luck, as the cost of renting in Buckeye is quite high. Currently, in November 2022, a 1-bedroom apartment costs an average of $1,572 per month, not including utilities and other fees that apartment complexes often charge. In November 2021, the average cost to rent a 1-bedroom apartment was about 42% less than what it currently is, which means that cost will likely rise again soon, making it nearly impossible for you to find a reasonably-priced apartment.
The average cost to rent a studio apartment in Buckeye is actually higher than the average cost to rent a 1-bedroom apartment, as it costs about $1,806 per month to rent a studio apartment in Buckeye, Arizona.
17. Lack of Non-Outdoor Activities to Do
If you enjoy doing outdoor activities such as hiking, fishing, or riding dirtbikes, you will feel right at home in this city. However, if you don’t enjoy any of these activities or only enjoy doing them once in a while, you will likely find yourself bored while living in Buckeye, Arizona.
There are restaurants and a few stores, and they are building more stores as the population of the city rises, but there really aren’t that many movie theaters, stores, or other things that you can do to entertain yourself when you have free time. You will have to be content with either driving to another city to find things to do or finding a few shows on your favorite streaming platform that you can watch repeatedly.
Overall, there are many reasons why you shouldn’t move to Buckeye, Arizona